Note:  These are the blurbs about each show to put into the program guide for No Brand Con.  Whoo.

Giant Robo (ReannaKing)

In the not-so-distant future, humans are no longer dependent on petroleum, thanks to the development of the Shizuma Drive.  All, however, is not well in the world.  Two organizations battle for control of the world, and at the heart of the conflict is Daisuku Kusama and his giant robot, appropriately dubbed Giant Robo.

Scrapped Princess (Scifi)

"The poison that will destroy the world" is how the world knows 15 year-old Pacifica Cassull, the "scrapped princess."  Thrown from a cliff as an infant and presumed dead for most of her life, Pacifica travels with her elder adopted siblings and guardians, Shannon and Raquel.  On her adventure, the trio must weather countless attacks from men and seemingly god-like creatures determined to end her existence once and for all.  Scrapped Princess blends fantasy with Sci-Fi and proves nothing is ever as you have been told.

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (Hot Damn)

Set between episodes 22 and 23 of the immensely popular TV series, Spike and the rest of the crew of the Bebop find themselves once again chasing a veritable fortune.  A mysterious and deadly virus has been unleashed on the world and it's up to Jet, Spike, Faye, and Ed to catch the man responsible.  As in the TV show, expect exciting chases, amazing martial arts, and plenty of smooth, jazzy style.

Slayers (ReannaKing)

Dragons, magic swords, wizards, cleavage. . . Slayers has it ALL! This fantasy romp features sorceress Lina Inverse and her companions, including a handsome-yet-stupid swordsman, a mysterious golem/demon/human hybrid shaman, and a shrine maiden with an over-developed sense of justice, as they travel the countryside battling demons, evil wizards, bandits, and whatever else gets in their way.


Nadesico (Nick Izumi)

In the year 2196, Earth is at war with the alien Jovian Lizards.  To combat this threat, a private corporation builds the powerful battleship ND-001 Nadesico.  Unfortunately, the only available crew are a mismatched bunch of eccentrics.  Nadesico has been very well regarded for its tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, with anime in-jokes abound.  The wacky hijinks and bizarre characters keep the comedy coming in what is essentially a tale of anime fans in space.

Ghost in the Shell (Hot Damn)

In the future, cyberization has rendered the line between man and machine all but irellevant.  Motoko Kusanagi, a cyborg consisting almost entirely of artificial parts, leads Public Security Section 9, dedicated to fighting technology-related crimes.  This story focuses on Section 9's pursuit of a hacker called the "Puppet Master."  Ghost in the Shell is cyberpunk at its best, blending Sci-Fi action with complex philosophical theory.

s-CRY-ed

A mysterious geological event has separated the rest of Japan from a section known as the "Lost Ground."  After this event, 1% of people began to be born with the special power to deconstruct, reconfigure, and create matter through the power of will, referred to as "Alter power."  A government organization called HOLD exists to police the Lost Ground, leaving particularly great challenges to the special forces unit, HOLY, made up entirely of Alter users.  This story follows two Alter users: Kazuma, the free rebel who rejects authority and Ryuhou, HOLY's top agent.  Soon after meeting, these two embark on a rivalry that will uncover shocking truths about the world and the nature of Alter power.

Full Metal Panic (ReannaKing)

In a parellel world to our own, the 20th Century has gone a little bit different.  The Cold War has yet to end.  China has split North-to-South, with Hong Kong stuck between, much like our Berlin.  Humanoid battle machines, called Slave Arms, are used in military conflict.  Sousuke Sagara is a member of the anti-terrorist mercenary group, Mithril, and has been assigned to protect and observe Kaname Chidori, a seemingly normal high school girl.  This series sets a serious portrait of global conflict and military technology up against a hilarious picture of unusual high school antics as it asks: is Kaname Chidori really as ordinary as she seems?

Genshiken (Scifi)

Shiiou University is home to a unique group of students. The Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kenkyuukai, or "Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture," gather to share in a mutual interest of anime, video games, art, and cosplay.  These students grow from simple strangers and develop complex relationships.  They maintain their unique ideas and perspectives, but the bonds of friendship they found in the club keep them together.

Gankutsuou

While visiting the festival on Luna, Viscount Albert de Morcerf makes the acquaintance of the Count of Monte Cristo, a mysterious nobleman who promises to meet with Albert in Paris.  Upon arrival, he introduces himself to the most powerful families in Paris, proceeding with long-laid plans to take revenge against those who have wronged him.  Loosely based on Alexander Dumas's novel, Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, breathes new life into a classic through brilliant and beautiful reinvention.

Samurai 7 (Nick Izumi)

In a future world reeling from the damages of massive war, villagers everywhere are terrorized by Nobuseri bandits.  The Nobuseri, however, are no normal men.  They were once great samurai warriors who integrated their living cells with monstrous machines to become fearsome living weapons, sacrificing their humanity in the process.  However, one village has seen the end of the Nobuseri's opression.  They seek out brave samurai the war has left behind.  These men sign on to defend a village, but soon find themselves up against the full might of the Nobuseri.

Outlaw Star (SlitheryDee)

On the distant world of Centinel III, Gene Starwind is a charismatic jack-of-all-trades.  Along with his business partner, Jim Hawking, he accepts a bodyguard job for a notorious outlaw.  Soon, they find themselves in possession of a highly advanced spacecraft and a bio-android named Melfina, who can directly interface with the ship.  With these new treasures in hand, Gene and Jim set off on a galaxy-spanning quest for the ultimate prize: the fabled Galactic Leyline.

Elfen Lied (TheHerald)

In a facility off the coast of Japan, terrible things have been happening.  A strange girl code-named Lucy has been held in complete containment for extreme experimentation.  She seizes her chance for escape, brutally destroying dozens of armed guards in her way, despite never laying a single finger on any of them.  Just as freedom is within her grasp, she is hit by a sniper and knocked into the surf.  Meanwhile, an ordinary university student named Kohta reunites with his cousin and takes ownership of the Kaede House, a restaurant owned by the family.  One day at the beach, Kohta comes across a mysterious, wounded girl lying naked on the beach.  Delirious and with no memory, the only clues as to her origins are the two small horns sticking out the sides of her head.

Gantz (Scifi)

Kei Kurono is dead.  His life was cut short in a gruesome train accident.  It was to his great surprise, then, to wake up soon after his death in an unfurnished Tokyo apartment, surrounded by people.  In the room sits a large black sphere called Gantz.  The sphere grants these recently-deceased people special suits and weapons with which to complete missions from Gantz.  Kei has been given a second chance at life, provided he can survive the tasks given to him by the enigmatic black sphere.

Big O (newtypeUK)

Forty years ago, the world lost its memory.  Now, the Paradigm Corporation runs Paradigm City, where the wealthy live in the safety of a great dome and the poor are forced to survive outside in the wilderness.  Roger Smith is a Negotiator, tasked with resolving the troubles of Paradigm City.  In a city where recovered memories can shake the very Earth, Roger is forced to fight back, relying on his trusty partner, the monstrous black mech known as Big O.

Neon Genesis Evangelion (newtypeUK)

The world has been forever changed by the Second Impact.  Half the world's population was wiped out by natural disaster, war, and economic distress.  Since, humanity has been plagued by the malevolent Angels, beings with untold powers.  The paramilitary organization NERV has taken it upon itself to fight back against the mysterious angels with the equally enigmatic Evangelions, giant humanoid weapons.  14 year-old Shinji Ikari has just been called by NERV to pilot Eva Unit 01.  Soon, he is wrapped up in a conflict that shakes the heavens themselves.

Full Metal Alchemist (Nick Izumi)

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange."  These words govern the very fabric of the Universe.  Ed Elric lost his right arm and left leg in an alchemic exercise gone horribly wrong.  He and his brother, Al, whose bodiless soul resides in a suit of armor, seek the Philosopher's Stone.  With it, they can recover what they've lost.  However, as the Elrics soon come to discover, nothing is free and you can't get without giving in return.

Eureka Seven (Hot Damn)

Renton Thurston leads a boring life in the city of Bellforest.  Day after day, he goes to school and works at his grandfather's maintenance shop.  Renton lives for his rare chances to pick up his ref-board and surf the trapar waves in the sky, participating in the immensely popular sport known as Lifting.  His life is about to take a sharp turn into dangerous new territory, as a legendary mech called the Nirvash crash-lands on his house.  Peering through the rubble, Renton sees a beautiful and enigmatic young girl step out of the cockpit.  Her name is Eureka.  Before he knows it, Renton has been whisked away to join the Gekko-State, a notorious counterculture group led by Renton's hero.  What is the Gekko-State fighting for?  More importantly, who is Eureka, really?

Black Lagoon (Cheesy)

Rokuro "Rock" Okajima is an ordinary Japanese Salaryman.  His business trip to southeast Asia takes an unexpected turn when he is taken hostage by modern-day pirates.  Revy, Dutch, and Benny are the crew of the Black Lagoon.  Soon, Rock is swept into a world of thieves, smugglers, and all around not-nice people, where the villains lock horns with the truly vile and superficial notions of "good" and "evil" are tossed out the window.  This world is no fantasy land.  Sometimes, right and wrong is a matter of necessitty, and always a question of perception.

BECK (Conner)

Kuyoki is just another ordinary 14 year-old about to enter Junior High.  There's nothing special about him nor anything particularly special in his life.  All this begins to change, however, thanks to a chance encounter with a strange-looking dog named Beck.  The dog's owner is emerging rock musician Ryuusuke Minami, who convinces Kuyoki to play the guitar.  Soon, he's playing in a band called BECK and on the road to growing up and discovering who he really wants to be.

Noein

Fifteen years in the future, two dimensions are at war.  La'Cryma, a possible future of ours, battles against Shangri'La, a dimension intent on destroying the entirety of space and time.  The key to stopping Shangri'La is the Dragon Torque, a mysterious artifact found somewhere in the Universe.  La'Cryma's warriors, the Dragon Knights, search through space and time to find it.  In the present, twelve year-old Haruka and her friend Yuu meet a Dragon Knight named Karasu.  He claims to be Yuu from the future and that Haruka is the Dragon Torque.

Gundam 00

Early in the 24th Century, the Earth's fossil fuels were completely exhausted and fuel distribution became imbalanced.  Having no other recourse, humans were forced to rely on solar power generators orbiting the Earth, supported by three orbital elevators.  The nations of the world reformed into three factions correlating to these elevators: the Union of Solar Energy and Free Nations, the Human Reform League, and the Advanced European Union.  With this infinite energy supply available only to major nations and their allies, the surface of the Earth has erupted in constant warfare over fuel and energy.  Suddenly, a new organization exposes itself to the world.  It is Celestial Being, dedicated to eradicating war and uniting humanity worldwide.  Giving Celestial Being the power to achieve its goal are the four Gundams, highly advanced mobile suits, and the Gundam Meisters who command them.  Can the Gundam Meisters truly accomplish their seemingly impossible goals and end war between mankind?

Here's my evil scheme for the chunk of time called Winterim.

Final Fantasies 1-12 (minus 10-2 and 11)

That's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12. All this in just a few weeks. If I dedicate myself to it, I can manage to knock each one out in 2-3 days. By that schedule, I should be able to pull it off. It's a bit away, so I now begin my mental training. I'll need months of concerted focus and built-up gamer power. My geekitude shall reach untold bounds!

This is all.

Life. The Universe. Everything. Mmyup.

I'm close to moving in. Oh so close. And yet, arise obstacles. I'm dealing with that same sort of stupid crap no college student wants to admit we deal with for fear people will doubt our independence and blah blah blah.

Here's my condition: I was offered and given free reign of the van while the family was on the west coast, May 8-20. I was also told I would have use of said automobile during the camp session, June 10-August 16ish. Admittedly, there's a span of time between those greater than 48 hours, but I was not expecting paternal backlash for retaining use of the van for a few days.

Despite having an all-clear on the "move in" front from the landlord, upon mentioning my tentative game plan to the parental units, Ed commented that "I don't need to be at camp for a few weeks, though." When I clarified that I was intending to move stuff into my house, he expressed being "disappointed" that the van had been in EC and told me "they" (more or less meaning "he") expected the van to be home and available. He went so far as to say that the van should only be used to go drop off stuff in Eau Claire, if at all, and then be returned to Winowhere.

Them's the breaks, and as much as college students like to pretend we're out from our parents' thumbs, we never quite are all the way.

You know the best part about this? None of this would even be a concern if Andy weren't being a useless mooching lump in the basement. Despite his now being a college graduate, he inexplicably appears to have NO plans of getting on with his life or possibly of ever even moving out of my parents' house. If he weren't such a fuckup, chances are pretty good I wouldn't be having this trouble. But hey. There I go blaming someone else for my situation. I should really stop that.

Ajax, my swollen rabbit.

Man. . . fuck money. I gots me some troubles, too. Oh well. I can get by. Just be a might bit thin for a while.

Two thoughtsL:

1) Season 2 was the season of Dr. Cox, I think. By that, I mean it was during the second season that Dr. Cox performed the highest number of responsible, mature, admirable (if less than "nice") acts. Starting in season 3, he became more of a turd for the sake of being a turd. He's still a good guy, but he was downright great in season 2.

2) Tonight's episode: Oh Em Gee!! Yet again, this show goes into something with substance. Quick recap: Dr. Cox and Laverne argue the entire episode about bad things happening for a reason (good Christian that Laverne is), and when Dr. Cox finally starts to understand and see her point. . . the episode ends w/ Laverne getting in a car accident and going comatose. Wow. Great ambience and performances in that scene, lasting no more than a minute.

Damn, I love this show.

I saw a photo of a guy with a custom built Guitar Hero 2 controller. . . . Yeee-aah. . . I'm kind of impressed and kind of embarassed for him.

50/50.

Mmm, my career.

I didn't get the dub gig. I was their second choice for Captain Ion, but second isn't too bad.
I'm not gonna rip on the guy who got the part, what with that being extremely unprofessional and incredibly immature. Congrats to him, I say. I'll find another shot along the way.

In about 30 minutes, I'm heading back to campus to audition for a whole crapload of short plays. We'll see if I manage to land a part.

I'm out.

My official attitude regarding the next 32 hours of my life:

"What-fuckin'-ever"

Of note is an observation I've made about myself. When I feel stressed/overwhelemed, I actually do become angry at EVERYONE. It ranges from mild annoyance to out-and-out "if I bump into you, your doctor will soon wonder how your teeth and testicles have switched places," depending on the individual.

Just get me to Saturday in a fashion I don't have to be present for. I don't need any more homicides on my rap sheet.

Addended:

I'm not feeling angry anymore. I got done the assignments I needed to, so now the only thing stressing me out is my Japanese interview tomorrow. And yeah, that is stressing me out. I went to the Language Lab for an hour today, and I gotta say I'm feeling INCREDIBLY lost. But hey, won't know how it goes until it goes, right?

So I'm trying to stay chilled out best I can. Also, it's cold in here.

There's an old dude shoveling my back steps. Weird.

This has been Monday, February 19, 2007.

1: Woke up, showered.
2: Did 3 questions of Japanese homework.
3: Started feeling nauseous
4: Slept through first class, hoping to feel better.
5: Woke up, spent two hours intermittently vomiting.
6: Went to last class of the day.
7: Got an A on last week's History test (I got one question wrong)

So yeah. There's that.

In light of recent activities. . . I found this funny.

Werd, yo.

Had a brief interview/audition today for an animated voiceover gig.

I, having made my appointment to go in at 2, had to wait in the hallway until 2:25 because one of the many dumb vapid whores from my Theatre History class just wandered in at 1:59. Seriously.

Anyway, I walk in, say hello, and hear "Ooh. I like your voice" (Remember what I'm auditioning for, people.)

I proceed to read some copy, and find out that this is a children's cartoon sort of thing, episodic in nature, requiring male voices to play the parts of two toys (puppets, really). . . I think. Woody and Captain Ion are their names, in any case. The ideal voice range? Age 10-15.

So guess what kind of impression good old Bass Matt made?

PHENOMENAL! She asked me to take the pitch as high as I could w/o cracking and add a little whine into it, so I did. As soon as I read the copy in that voice, she started grinning like an overly satisfied madwoman.

I don't know what my chances are, but I can judge the interview/audition. It went pretty damn well. We'll see what happens with it.

Oh yeah, also of mention: She asked for a dollar figure for compensation. Mothafuckin' tizzight.

Dr. Allen's first words as we began class:

"Hmm, so we're gonna talk about penises today."

which prompted one of the most godawful conversations I've witnessed or in which I have partaken. Here's the important part.

Prof: "Huh. Think they should write 'The Penis Monologues?'"
VDW: "It wouldn't be very interesting. They only have one thought."
CLAHFB: "Yeah. . . 'mm, boobies.'"
Me: "See, that's exactly the problem. Any attempts to write a male counterpart to 'The Vagina Monologues' have been paralyzed by that exact mindset, looking at it purely for humor's sake, and that just isn't right."
FAHD: "Yeah, there'd be something about football in there, too."
Me: ". . ." *shut mouth to prevent firing atomic blasts at all involved parties*

(*
VDW: Vapid Dumb Whore
CLAHFB: Compensating with Lame Attempts at Humor Frat Boy
FAHD: Fat, Attention Hungry Dumbass
*)

I seriously wanted to injure all three of them. . . Fuckheads.

Muhuggabungle! That's the summary. Now, here's the details.

I got a 17/20 on my take-home Kanji quiz and a 9/20 on the review quiz. Off to a great start. . . not.

I've observed an interesting phenomenon. By way of having more students in general, big lecture hall classes have more DUMB-AS-BRICKS students. Makes sense, with averages, I suppose. What follows is a short list of questions people have been unable to answer in my Oceanography class.
-"What sort of thing might a ship have onboard, like a big weight on a rope, that could touch the bottom?"
-"In that slide (on screen), are the layers vertical or horizontal?"
-"If it takes longer for the SONAR's sound wave to return, does that mean the ocean is deeper or shallower?"

DUMBASSMOTHERFUCKERS!

Also, news: Dr. Pinero is out on sick leave through the end of May, so now I've got Dr. Lang permanently for World History. That's not so terrible. She seems a bright lady, and not a piss-poor professor. I am a bit pissed off that we spent MORE THAN HALF of class today "going over" how to WRITE, for Christ's sake. Seriously. This is college, people. If you can't form a simple sentence, IT'S YOUR FAULT! DON'T SLOW DOWN THE ENTIRE CLASS FOR IT! After the lesson on "a sentence needs a subject and a verb" we dove back into Gilgamesh. . . the discussion of which prompted one girl to talk about how Gilgamesh spied on the gods, came up with a devious plan, built and ship and saved humanity from the great flood. Few problems with that.
1)Gilgamesh didn't do shit. It was Utnapishtim.
2)Nobody spied on anyone. Ea (one of the gods) warned Utnapishtim, and TOLD HIM EXACTLY WHAT TO DO.

Did this dumb bitch even READ the damn story? I know I can be a bit of a Gilgamesh snob, but when you are THAT wrong, and when the professor doesn't even correct you (if SHE even knew), my fury gets a bit boilin'.

So, as summarized earlier, muhuggabungle. . .

Also, I really am sorry.

I don't know what that means. . . but it is a song title. It's one of the opening themes for Eureka Seven, actually. A good one.

I have a house. I have internet. This is victory.

Holla.